While we were initially late to the party, we are now 100% on board when it comes to electric pressure cookers—specifically The Instant Pot. The electric pressure cooking trend looks like it’s here to stay. We now teach Instant Pot cooking classes at Red Stick Spice Company and find ourselves turning to this handy gadget daily.
On this episode of Smidgen, we chat with chef and author Bruce Weinstein. Bruce has authored two pressure cooking cookbooks with a third book on the way. We talk specifically about the Instant Pot brand of pressure cookers and get Bruce’s advice for cooking success and how to avoid common pitfalls. Anne gets to the bottom (literally) of her recent “barley incident” and her Instant Pot’s rude “burn” readout warning. She also admits that she did not read her Instant Pot’s user guide. (To be clear, she threw it away.) Pro tip: read your manual!
After talking with Bruce, Anne heads to the Red Stick Spice test kitchen with store staffer Cameron where they make a big pot of Smoky Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice.
Here's a shopping list for ya:
Here’s a list of the links we mentioned in the podcast:
Listen to Smidgen on the podcast player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
We all remember our favorite teachers. After you hear Anne’s interview with Marcelle Bienvenu, you’ll understand why she’s Anne’s all-time favorite teacher. Marcelle Bienvenu’s resume is lengthy: Times Picayune food writer, cookbook writer and editor for several culinary greats including Emeril Lagasse, plus she’s penned several cookbooks of her own. Marcelle is also an instructor at John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University. Listen as Anne and Marcelle unravel the complex tapestry of Cajun Creole Cuisine.
After talking with our guests, Anne heads to the Red Stick Spice test kitchen with store staffer Sara and cook up a skillet of Corn Creole.
Here’s a list of the links we mentioned in the podcast:
Listen to Smidgen on the podcast player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
Your eyes eat first, right? Wrong. Today, our phones eat first. And for at least 6 years (an eon in social media years,) our phones have been eating Sheet Pan Suppers. Anne shows her cranky side and frustration over this “new” way of cooking—it’s called baking. While we are, in all seriousness 100% behind this cooking method, we did want to find out why the Sheet Pan Suppers “trend” caught on and keeps on keeping on. Anne covers this Phone to Fork movement with lots and lots of deliciousness along the way.
After talking with our guests, Anne heads to the Red Stick Spice test kitchen with store staffer and fellow plant eater Sara where they put a rainbow of veggies on multiple sheet pans then lose all their manners and talk with their mouths full of Sheet Pan Carrot tacos with Big Batch Restaurant Style Salsa.
Before you listen or watch, print out our shopping list for this episode!
Here’s a list of the links we mentioned in the podcast:
Listen to Smidgen on the podcast player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
Smidgen launched last week and we’ve been amazed with the response! Thank you to everyone who is listening, sharing, and reviewing the show. You can hear Episode 1 of Season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
We have a little bonus for you as a thank you for all the support. Host Anne Milneck, owner of Red Stick Spice Co. and podcast producer Catherine O’Brien do a short lightning round on the topic of Scratch vs. Store Bought—some of Anne’s opinions might surprise you!
Don’t forget: all the recipes featured on Smidgen can be found at Red Stick Spice.com. The next episode of Smidgen will be out in a few days, so enjoy this bonus until then! Thanks for listening to Smidgen!
What can I do to make boneless, skinless chicken breasts taste better? It’s the number one question we hear in the store, day in, day out. It made sense to make it the topic of our very first podcast episode. Our shop stocks thousands of spices, blends, oils and balsamics on the shelves, so we are well-equipped to answer the question. But we wanted to go deeper in this episode. We wanted to find out how consumers have come to prefer this particular packaged poultry. We decided to ask Galen Iverstine or Iverstine Farms Butcher—Baton Rouge’s premier local butcher—about this very popular cut and what we can do (or not do) in order to get full flavor and bang for our buck. We love Galen’s approach to ranching and butchering. His insight broadened our perspective for buying local and what it really means for a foodway to be sustainable.
After talking with Galen, we head over to the Red Stick Spice test kitchen with store staffer Madeline to cook up a spicy Peruvian Spatchcock Chicken with Cilantro Sauce. Among other things, Anne shares her memories of her Catholic upbringing and Pagan babies, declares herself Team Cilantro and ties it all into the oh-so delicious spatchcock chicken and creamy cilantro sauce.
Before you watch, print our shopping list for the recipes we'll be whipping up.
Here’s a list of the links we mentioned in the podcast:
Listen to Smidgen on the podcast player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
Somewhere between a pinch and a dash is a smidgen, and when it comes to cooking, a smidgen can make all the difference. Introducing Smidgen, the podcast of Red Stick Spice Company. Host Anne Milneck is a chef, head "spice girl" at Red Stick Spice Company, and a tireless champion of home cooks everywhere. Smidgen features some of the most interesting people in the food world plus real world cooking segments recorded right from the Red Stick Spice Co. Teaching Kitchen.
Season One of Smidgen launches June 13. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast app.